The Achuar and Talisman Energy | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

The Achuar and Talisman Energy

May 3, 2010 | Report

The Achuar indigenous people live in the Corrientes, Pastaza, and Morona river basins in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Achuar lands sit atop oil fields, although relatively marginal in terms of the quality and accessibility of the reserves. However, successive oil companies – first U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and now Argentina’s Pluspetrol – have been pumping oil in the Corrientes river basin since the early 1970s. The companies polluted for decades, and have caused severe environmental damage and negative health impacts for the local communities. The Achuar are determined not to let this tragic history repeat itself in the still pristine rainforest areas of their territory. However, their lands and livelihoods are now under threat from Talisman Energy, which has the right to drill for oil in two blocks covering roughly 4 million acres (1.7 million hectares) of roadless tropical rainforest along the Morona and Pastaza rivers in the heart of Achuar territory. The Achuar people have consistently opposed any new oil operation in their territory, and they are urging Talisman to respect their rights and withdraw from their ancestral territory.

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